2018’ Published in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics — Precision Vaccinations

The publication of a manuscript entitled HIV/AIDS Vaccines: 2018, was announced by GeoVax Labs, Inc. a biotechnology company developing human vaccines.

This manuscript was authored by Harriet L. Robinson, Ph.D., GeoVax’s Director of HIV Vaccines and Chief Scientific Officer Emeritus, and was published in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.  

In the article, Dr. Robinson provides a comprehensive review of progress toward the development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine, including key challenges and lessons learned from completed efficacy trials.   

Despite the development of effective antiretroviral therapies (ART), approximately 48 percent of people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the U.S. and worldwide, have drug-controlled infections. 

The HIV virus has infected 76 million people and killed an estimated 35 million. 

Patients without drug-controlled infections not only develop AIDS but actively spread the infection, said GeoVax in a press release.  

This data indicates that, for the elimination of HIV, there is a need for an effective vaccine to be added to the arsenal of ART. 

Prevention of infection is best mediated by neutralizing antibody (Ab) blocking the entry of the virus into a cell. 

Progress toward a vaccine has also been made, although this has yet to deliver a licensed product. 

Development of an HIV vaccine faces many challenges that include: 

• the virus life cycle favoring the rapid establishment of hard to clear chronic infections,
• the high diversity and structure of the envelope glycoprotein limiting the ability to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), and,
• the tropism of the virus for T helper cells facilitating infection, spread, and persistence.

‘Only with a demonstrated, effective HIV/AIDS vaccine can people worldwide avoid the infection, ongoing health risks and societal impact resulting from this disease,’ said GeoVax. 

GeoVax’s HIV vaccine candidate GOVX-B11 is currently progressing in human clinical trials with the sponsorship of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.   

The GOVX-B11 vaccine has been tested at various doses and regimens in clinical trials involving approximately 500 participants. In these trials, the vaccine has been extremely well tolerated. 

Click here, for more GeoVax vaccine development information.